Freshman Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) plans to use his seat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to push for speedier drilling approvals for oil and natural gas.
“Certainly to expedite permitting for natural gas and oil and other energy on federal lands,” Flake said when asked about his focus on the panel. “And then other public lands issues, energy, there is always work to be done there.”
Many Republicans have accused the Obama administration of moving too slowly to issue permits for energy development on federal lands.
Flake, who sought out a seat on the committee, reiterated there’s one big idea he won’t press for in the Senate: a carbon tax.
When he was in the House, Flake proposed a plan in 2009 that would have taxed fossil energy production while reducing payroll taxes. He has since said that his support for a carbon tax was a tactical gambit to help slow momentum of cap-and-trade legislation, which collapsed in the Senate in 2010 after narrowly clearing the House in 2009.
But he added that if policymakers were to put a cost on carbon pollution, a revenue-neutral carbon tax would be a more “honest” approach than cap-and-trade.
